Tuesday, February 22, 2005

As the City of Detroit contemplates a 40%+ increase in sewerage rates to pay back 'overcharges' to suburban water and sewerage customers, we find here another example of balancing the books on the back of urban citizens and workers. Hamtramck and Highland Park are both suffering badly from state receivership. Is this what Detroit has to look forward to?

Sunday, February 20, 2005

At the SMM today, Green and Kalamazoo City Councilperson Don Cooney gave an inspiring talk on his efforts. When asked for information on how to reproduce his efforts he pointed us to the Midwest Academy. Please take a look and let me know what you think.

Monday, February 14, 2005

Thursday, February 10, 2005

This sad tale points out the manipulation of election law on the part of the so-called major parties that creates a third-party political ghetto. Here in Michigan we are more fortunate as any candidate receiving the requisite percentage will retain our ballot status and eventually put us in the 'majors'. We can thank the Republican dominated Michigan legislature for that. What party is in the majority in New Mexico?

Wednesday, February 09, 2005

The current Detroit budget crisis -- a three year projected short fall of $389 million -- is the worst since the early 1980s. Mayor Kilpatrick has sent layoff notices to 700 workers effective March 4. He has cut all non-union salaries 10%. He has eliminated nearly 250 unfilled positions. The decrepit bus system will be further crippled by route eliminations and reductions in service. He plans a second round of more service and jobs cuts, including closing the Belle Isle Aquarium. Announcing these actions in a televised address January 12 he said: “we have reached a dire moment in the history of our city. We have failed for decades to make tough decisions by spending millions as … tens of thousands of people were leaving the city.”

The Detroit Public School System has a budget shortfall of $200 million. The unelected, appointed board and its CEO, Kenneth Burnley, propose cutting 5,400 jobs and closing 40 schools. Projections point to closing nearly half the schools.

"The United States needs to lose the war in Iraq as soon as possible. Even more urgently, the whole world needs the United States to lose the war in Iraq. What is at stake now is the way we run the world for the next generation or more, and really bad things will happen if we get it wrong.”

as well as

“The U.S. economy is a confidence trick based on everybody else’s perception that the United States is centrally important for the world’s security and that its economy is centrally important for the world economy.”